THE BITER BIT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3820, 19 July 1928, Page 2

THE BITER BIT.

A good story is at present in circulation in a northern township in the Southland province (says the News) concerning none other than a shrewd agent who js not unknown to people desirous of purchasing a farm or residential property. One cold, wintry day—and anybody who is forced to work in an office that is without means of heating knows how cold it can be —this person, who bears a name honoured in the land of the Clans, espied an electric radiator with a bright glow alongside the desk of one of the clerks. Interrogation of the clerk concerned as to how, when, % and where this so-called luxury came into being, elicited the information that the clerk himself had provided tlie apparatus in order to gain a little warmth during his hours at the office, and that if the man of affairs was not prepared to pay for the current consumed, then he (the clerk) was perfectly willing to do so. Lest there be any misapprehension of endeavour made for the clerk to escape liability, the owner of the office forthwith visited the electricity department, of the supplying borough to ascertain the amounts previously paid for electric current, so that an average could be arrived at, and the clerk duly “dunned” for the extra current used. Diligent inquiry by the local body’s office staff failed to find any record of the fact that the agent’s office was ever connected with the town-lighting system, or that ever a single penny had been paid for current used. The upshot was that the person who sought to deprive the clerk of a little comfort is working hours , was forthwith billed for a fairly substantial sum to cover the cost of electricity supplied since his office was wired up several years previously. Now the gentleman of Scotch proclivities is wondering whether it would not have been more charitable on his part to have said nothing.